PM Hun Sen, for his part, called on Vietnamese firms to continue investing in Cambodia in fields of its demand such as agriculture, tourism, transportation, logistics, construction, education and technical training.

He said the Cambodian government is striving to improve business environment via dialogue mechanism between the government and enterprises, cut business costs and devise new draft law on investment and exclusive economic zones.

The Cambodian PM spoke highly of the signing of the Vietnam – European Union free trade agreement and expressed interest in bilateral trade and transportation, saying that the Cambodian government is studying measures to further promote the construction and connectivity of expressways in the southern economic corridor in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Vietnam invested in 178 projects worth nearly 2.8 billion USD in Cambodia as of September 2019. Cambodia ranked third among the 76 countries and territories invested in by Vietnam. During the period, the total Vietnamese investment in the country neared 50.4 million USD, up 49.5 percent year on year, mostly in agriculture, banking, telecommunications – information technology, manufacturing and processing.

Cambodia also poured 63.7 million USD in 21 projects in Vietnam in the fields of agro-forestry-fisheries, trade, transportation, manufacturing and processing. In the first nine months of this year, Cambodia’s investment in Vietnam reached 3.2 million USD.

Trade between the two countries is forecast to reach 5 billion USD before 2020, he said.

On the occasion, the two leaders signed three memoranda of understanding on trade infrastructure connectivity along border areas, construction and transfer of a model market to Cambodia, and raising two-way trade.

A memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Council for Development of Cambodia was also signed./.